How do I increase time between water changes?

[Brookster123]

Thought the not bothering with a tank comment was a bit unnecessary.

The rest was fine.


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Fair enough, maybe I'm wrong. .. i just don't think one should be asking about how to limit maintenance before they even set the tank up. A well running tank requires time and effort, no two ways about it

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[Caliban07]

Fair enough, maybe I'm wrong. .. i just don't think one should be asking about how to limit maintenance before they even set the tank up. A well running tank requires time and effort, no two ways about it

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You're not wrong there but things happen in life. The OP is someone I've who has been at the center of some good advice in some threads and it's obvious to me that they have a good grasp on the hobby in general. They already stated that they were not intending to 'get out of doing water changes'

I don't want to get embroiled in anything. Just my opinion and was surprisingly unbrookster like


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[NigelK8485]

Fair enough, maybe I'm wrong. .. i just don't think one should be asking about how to limit maintenance before they even set the tank up. A well running tank requires time and effort, no two ways about it

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It was stated though he's looking at doing this for a way to leave it while on vacation, not just to not keep up with maintenance. Though I agree, wait until after vacation to set it up then or hire someone to come do a water change.


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[Mebbid]

Pay a responsible kid to do them while you're gone.

 

[FishayFishay]

Pay a responsible kid to do them while you're gone.

I'm up for the job. Lol

 

[Brookster123]

It was stated though he's looking at doing this for a way to leave it while on vacation, not just to not keep up with maintenance. Though I agree, wait until after vacation to set it up then or hire someone to come do a water change.


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In totally misread the op, my bad.. i agree with employing someone to do them, perhaps the dude from your favorite lfs?

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[icydeath]

If you're not up for a weekly 50% wc you probably shouldn't bother with a tank. There is really nothing you can do to decrease the amount of wc's needed to sustain a health tank.

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I'm up for it. I actually enjoy water changes. It's just that for a short period during the summer I will be gone for a week or two.

EDIT: It's alright Brookster, I've done it before too haha

 

[icydeath]

How about just skipping the whole water change process?

I've wanted to do this, but I live off of municipal water.

 

[icydeath]

I think I will age a bunch of water before hand, do a huge water change, and show my mom how to siphon water into one bucket and use a powerhead to replace it.

I've been doing some research on it and some discus owners have had good results leaving there fish for a week or two. I know I can keep nitrates under control with a bunch of anacharis, hornwort, or an algae scrubber, but it is my understanding other things (mostly minerals) need to be replaced too that can only be replaced with a water change.

I will put off discus till I have a more established way to keep the tank in control (maybe after my mom gets some experience under her belt, or if one of my more responsible friends wants to learn). I wouldn't want the fish to be stressed or anything, just a back up plan in case something comes up. Thanks for the advice guys, really appreciated it.

 

[icydeath]

In totally misread the op, my bad.. i agree with employing someone to do them, perhaps the dude from your favorite lfs?

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Unfortunately, Folsom has no LFS that are relatively close. However, I could get one of my friends to do it. Didn't even think about that until you and mebbid brought it up. Thanks guys

 

[Brookster123]

Unfortunately, Folsom has no LFS that are relatively close. However, I could get one of my friends to do it. Didn't even think about that until you and mebbid brought it up. Thanks guys

I had my girlfriends dad do it once. Awkward to ask.. made it as simple as possible. Left a pitcher and an empty trash can to drain water, than a bunch of gallon jugs to pour back in..may not be the proper size wc but it's better than nothing. Also not leaving the water treatment to chance helps with your stress factor

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[Delapool]

I had my girlfriends dad do it once. Awkward to ask.. made it as simple as possible. Left a pitcher and an empty trash can to drain water, than a bunch of gallon jugs to pour back in..may not be the proper size wc but it's better than nothing. Also not leaving the water treatment to chance helps with your stress factor

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Yeah, I've had offers to look after the tank while I'm away on holidays and the fish have signed a petition dead against the idea.

 

[Mebbid]

I've wanted to do this, but I live off of municipal water.

You can just use a carbon prefilled on the water coming in. Its not a huge deal.

 

[friscuba]

Fair enough, maybe I'm wrong. .. i just don't think one should be asking about how to limit maintenance before they even set the tank up. A well running tank requires time and effort, no two ways about it

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If you design the aquarium properly ahead of time you can minimize the amount of time and effort. A good overflow system can replace a lot of water changes, I wouldn't rely on it to remove them altogether though. If you've got a 50-100 gallon tank and you're running 24 gallons of new water through it every day, you're potentially eliminating a lot of work.

 

[treemanone2003]

I'm not going to multi quote everyone but I'll shoot this off for everyone to sit back and consider. Everyone is contributing excellent points for consideration. As someone with 10 years of dedicated Discus experience, here's my take. The OP is talking about a "tentative" idea. I can't stress enough of how impressed I am with your foresight and anticipation. Definitely two thumbs up from me !!!

As for what you've mentioned as to others that have done a 1 or 2 week "situation" in this regard, I know where the info is coming from and it's folks with volumes of learning the hard way and conforming to standards that are simply unchangeable. As did I in my first two years of trying to re-invent the wheel to my likings with Discus. It just doesn't happen.

Brookster and Caliban both have valid points that I will not agree or argue with. It's how one reads the text of another that gets misconstrued in the translation. We've all been on each side of writing and reading. End.

Mebbid, I've seen that before (laying in bed and not concentrating) and need to re-investigate that approach. Something about it turned me off for a reason that I can't accurately associate right now as to why, but I'll get back to it in the future. As for the carbon, being that short of time MAY be acceptable but I'm highly against carbon in the Discus setup. It is THOUGHT that is is the common trace to HITH but I cannot verify that statement is true or false. I can say that based on PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, I have used carbon and had HITH with Discus. I have also, NOT used carbon and never experienced HITH with them. Again, this is my own experience. I'm not attempting to single you out Mebbid, but if I recall correctly you had a possible HLLE situation with an Oscar. Were you using AC in that setup ? Just an afterthought for me now. End.

scuba. A well preplanned setup has absolutely nothing to do with Discus. While preplanning is a valiant effort, ALL the rules change when it comes to the "Kings of the Aquarium". Google that phrase and you will get a plethora of responses. I'll put my $$ that Discus are in the top 3. Possibly 1 or 2 depending on your location and business names associated with the like. It's a whole new ball game. While they're not impossible to keep as many will attempt to state, they have a knack for requiring a boat load of attention the average hobbyists fail to recognize.


icy. As I said previously, 1 week without a WC is a yes. 2 weeks is an eh. But this will all depend on the age and size of the fish. If they're adults, then it's "acceptable". If they're sub adults, juvies, fry, or wigglers, HELL TO THE NO !!!


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[Mebbid]

No, there was no carbon used in my oscar setup.

People have blamed hlle on carbon quite a few times in multiple types of fish. It doesn't logically make sense to me. People from what I've seen will place blame with little to no thought just searching for an explanation.

Here's a question, in the discus with hlle you had, was it early on in your discus keeping experience when you were still learning?

 

[Caliban07]

Treeman I'm curious and only because I have wanted to keep Discus in the past. Other than changing the water a lot. What else do Discus require that does not apply to most setups?

I hear they need 'growing out' and substrate kept to a bare minimum to alleviate the strain of particulate removal but surely this would decrease the difficulty would it not?

Other than being a sensitive specimen. What other attention to detail do they require?

Perhaps we could discuss this elsewhere if you prefer not to take away from the OPs original question unless you feel that your response would contribute somewhat.

I feel that, with no experience in discus per se, all set ups require clean water, adequate tank size and a quality diet.

Is it common practice to insist that discus remain in a species only tank? If so that would only (IMO) make things easier since balancing compatibility can be one of the most challenging aspects to the hobby.

I look forward to learning more about these beautiful fish and having someone here with 10 years experience at my disposal, where else better to start.

OP if you feel this would be better suited to a fresh thread please say so.


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[treemanone2003]

No, there was no carbon used in my oscar setup.

People have blamed hlle on carbon quite a few times in multiple types of fish. It doesn't logically make sense to me. People from what I've seen will place blame with little to no thought just searching for an explanation.

Here's a question, in the discus with hlle you had, was it early on in your discus keeping experience when you were still learning?

Hmm.....

I'm trying to make sense of things while comparing notes in my book. I also agree that while quite a bit of it doesn't make sense at all, there's still a common denominator among all the scenarios. AC. Which is what leads me to believe based on experience and research that carbon does have an effect. Quite possibly as its most often thought to be that carbon removes "too much" of the trace elements that are not replaced if WC's fail to maintain a strict pattern. I cannot confirm or deny that because I am not a scientist and did not have a control group to measure any success or failure rate.

My issues were HITH and not HLLE as I only observed a true "hole in the head" and no "head/lateral line erosion". This was something that happened in my early years of Discus keeping and nothing that has taken place recently (last 8 years) since I started following the advice of more educated keepers.

However, if I could throw one more aspect to the mix, my problems were with domestics. Of the times I've read about this being an issue, I can't recall if this is a domestic only problem or if it crosses over into wilds. I could only presume that it could affect both wild and domestic in the same manner.

I have thought of many different tests that I would like to put to paper but don't currently have the time or space to do so and more importantly cannot justify putting the innocent fish out for what may be a possible no win situation for them or science in the event the results are inconclusive.


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[Delapool]

Treeman I'm curious and only because I have wanted to keep Discus in the past. Other than changing the water a lot. What else do Discus require that does not apply to most setups?

I hear they need 'growing out' and substrate kept to a bare minimum to alleviate the strain of particulate removal but surely this would decrease the difficulty would it not?

Other than being a sensitive specimen. What other attention to detail do they require?

Perhaps we could discuss this elsewhere if you prefer not to take away from the OPs original question unless you feel that your response would contribute somewhat.

I feel that, with no experience in discus per se, all set ups require clean water, adequate tank size and a quality diet.

Is it common practice to insist that discus remain in a species only tank? If so that would only (IMO) make things easier since balancing compatibility can be one of the most challenging aspects to the hobby.

I look forward to learning more about these beautiful fish and having someone here with 10 years experience at my disposal, where else better to start.

OP if you feel this would be better suited to a fresh thread please say so.


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I don't know if this is common but I've shifted to a bare bottom tank for growing out fry and at this stage think I will stick with it. The hob filter doesn't really push the water around so the amount of gunk that came out of the gravel was incredible. Even with the ease of vacuuming a bare bottom tank now, each week I find I take out quite a bit of water before being happy the tank is cleaned up.

Edit - in the reading on carbon I can't find anything that conclusively says it will be a problem in the tank. I have seen some threads that suggest sulphur or phosphorous? leaching out of the carbon may be an issue.

There does seem to be a link though and I would imagine that it would depend on the quality of the source of carbon. Not sure if it also gets washed after manufacture but that may also help remove some elements.



Only read abstract on this. I think you can join for free - will have a look tonight.

http://www.researchgate.net/publica...and_Lateral_Line_Erosion_in_the_Ocean_Surgeon

http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/filtermedia/a/Activated-Carbon-In-The-Aquarium.htm

 

[RackinRocky]

I love the comment about your fish signing a petition against someone else doing water changes for you while you're absent. Mine would too! I would never be able to do Discus. For one, they are so expensive to buy, they have exacting needs, and sometimes I just dread water changes. Nevertheless, it's done weekly, and I feel a lot of satisfaction after it's done, but the thought of it sometimes gets to me. Sometimes I want to just stop water changes altogether for 2 weeks, but I know it isn't healthy for the fish. Just like with any other "pet," they depend on you, and it's your responsibility to take the best care of them that you possibly can, because you brought them into your life. Does anyone else ever feel like just stopping the water changes for a while? I wouldn't ever do it, but I have a lot of other pets. Horses, dogs, 6 parrots and a bunny, and sometimes it seems that all I do is care for animals.

Sometimes (well, a lot of times) I think what would happen if I had to go into the hospital. I worry about it. The other animals, my husband knows how to feed, but the fish care is more involved. The water levels wouldn't be topped off, they would probably be fed the incorrect amount by my husband, and forget water changes! He'd get the temperature wrong, or forget the Prime, or forget to check that the temperatures are staying correct. The siphoning would be a disaster. I do my 10, 20 and 55 gallon tanks with 5 gallon buckets, and that's MANY trips to and from the bathroom to change out 30%. Hubby is not in the best of health, although nothing serious, but I'm pretty sure I'd have at least a few fish deaths if I was gone for 2 weeks. And I don't have any Discus.

When a hobby becomes drudgery on a regular basis, it's time to re-think it. But I believe my enjoyment of my fish far outweighs the few times now and then that I dread changing the water. I rarely go over a week, and then it's usually only 8 or 9 days. Even so, my two Blue Rams both died of HITH, and I siphon religiously with water changes. I know I should probably only keep easy species, but recently my endlers got "twirling" disease and I lost nearly all of them! Can't win. I do realize though, that no matter what kind of fish I have, they must be taken excellent care of or I might as well break down the tanks and rehome them.

I do the same with my plants that I grow (orchids, etc.) I dread watering, fertilizing, repotting, and sometimes I don't even want to mist them. But the blooms always inspire me again. I guess everything we enjoy in life comes at a price.